PATTAYA, Thailand – Cash incentives totalling P1.2 million await Kayla Sanchez for the deluge of medals she won in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
Sanchez captured three gold and five silver medals for a total of eight in the biennial showcase's swimming competition that ended on Tuesday to become the most bemedalled athlete of the Philippine delegation.
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Sanchez stands to receive cash from the government - a lot of it - as per Philippine law for her achievements. That's not yet counting incentives expected to be announced by the President Marcos and the Philippine Olympic Committee.
Republic Act 10699 states that a SEA Games gold medal is worth P300,000 and silver medal P150,000. The law also states that the team events will receive the same amount but will be divided among the members of the team if they are less than five.
The 24-year-old Sanchez, who started competing for the Philippines in 2023 after being a member of Canada's national team, put herself in the same breath as the likes of Filipina swimming legends Akiko Thomson and Christine Jacob with the multiple medals that she captured here.
Unconfirmed information claimed the number of medals that Sanchez won in a single SEA Games is unmatched by a Filipina swimmer.
Thomson was the last Filipina swimmer to win three gold medals in a single Games, which she did during the 1989 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
In Thailand this year, Sanchez picked up two individual gold medals in the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle to pocket P600,000.
For the team event gold in the 4x100m freestyle, she will share the P300,000 with teammates Heather White, Chloe Isleta, and Xiandi Chua, which means they will receive P75,000 each.
Sanchez bagged three silvers in the individual events in the 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m freestyle for P450,000, and two team events in the 4x100m medley relay, and the 4x200m freestyle relay for P75,000.
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